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ABOUT THE COMPANY
Bird Playing Cards was founded by brothers Antony and Nicholas Bird in 1995. Both were educated at Winchester College. Antony studied sociology at Exeter University and became a town planner and later a book publisher. Nicholas read art history at Sussex University, joined the auctioneers Christie’s and subsequently the Victoria and Albert Museum where he became the publisher, winning several major awards. Both are also military historians who lead tours to European and other battlefields. They co-edited an anthology of the best of military writing – Eye Witness to War [Summersdale, Chichester, 2006 – paperback ed. Voices from the Front Line, 2008]. Antony is also the author of Gentlemen We Will Stand and Fight: Le Cateau 26 August, 1914 [Crowood Press, Ramsbury, 2008].
THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM in London was, twenty years ago, an august and dignified institution, a museum stuffed with mahogany cases of precious ceramics, silver, glass… I was Head of Publications, a post that had hitherto been devoted to the production of learned catalogues. Tiring of proof-reading tomes on Tibetan rain buckets, I sought light relief by publishing jolly souvenirs. Like playing cards. The 1983 General Election was the first to feature four main parties — Tory, Labour, Liberal and SDP. So I produced a pack of V&A playing cards with the aces and court cards of each suit representing the major players of the four parties. We commissioned leading caricaturists including Gerald Scarfe, Trog and the late Mark Boxer to depict Thatcher, Foot, Steel, Jenkins et al. The pack quickly sold out. Clearly there was a market for cards with original, different or quirky faces on a single theme. They appealed to collectors and players. Defending one spade at Bridge is more amusing if you can flick through a duff hand enlivened with the odd Impressionist portrait. But this vulgar streak (‘commercial’ if you’re polite) did not sit well with the V&A, nor did spending money on these fripperies (the pack was called incidently ‘Playing Politics or Cabinet Shuffle’…ho, ho…). I left. But the thought remained that there could be profit in this venture. I teamed up with elder brother Tony, who brought financial savvy and marketing nous to the enterprise.
Dieter Strehl, the new boss of the old Austrian playing card publishers and manufacturers, Piatnik, heard of our enterprise and we quickly agreed a contract whereby he paid for production and distributed, while we did the editorial and design work — and retained direct mail rights. Being also a free-lance journalist, some pre-publication stories were planted about the pack in national papers. And then we had a stroke of fortune. Some courtier spotted what we were doing and alerted an appalled Lord Chamberlain, who biked over a pompous and ill-written letter forbidding publication on pain of unspecified horrors, presumably a reference to mutilation and the Tower. This was too good a blunder to miss - the threat had absolutely no force in law — and we faxed the silly letter to papers, telly and radio. For a week or so Willy, myself and my brother did the rounds of studios and fanned the flames of publicity. The story ran a little further when Fergie’s ridiculous agent said we couldn’t use a little image of Budgie the Helicopter ’, and her patrician lady-in-waiting ‘absolutely’ forbade us from depicting HRH in any form, as it would be a breach of copyright (!) and be less than dignified (the association of ‘dignity’ and the Duchess was at least novel). The only blip, upon publication, was that Piatnik’s UK agent had not anticipated demand and we couldn’t exploit the publicity and clamour for packs Since this first bash, we have gone on to publish — mostly with Piatnik — numerous different packs, often double packs with two different back designs for Bridge players, and often with museums (Natural History, NPG, Guggenheim, Imperial War Museum etc.) who can sell a good portion of the run through their shops. We find that on grounds of cost a good tuck-box is preferable to a fancy ‘bespoke’ one, which will put a punitive £4 on the retail price. But special presentation is required, and built into margins, when selling to mail-order specialists and retailers like Past Times. It is tricky to gauge the potential of an idea. Our Elvis pack, licensed by Elvis Presley Enterprises at great expense, initially failed to excite Elvis worshippers, but boomed during the 25th anniversary of his death, the boom continuing. We thought Scottish golfers would play cards but St Andrews Open Champions proved otherwise. It does well elsewhere. A Glory of Venice pack featuring Titian, Canaletto etc. under-whelmed because, I suspect, the images do not have the sharp, clear, simple outlines that do best on playing cards.
Crazes, fads, the pop group of the moment are risky as they will be over, finished, by the time you publish and your garage will be bursting with unwanted pasteboard. But Manchester United is an exception — this one will run and run. We tried to get the rights but got a solicitor’s letter instead. The threat of their legal muscle was a lot more frightening than the bellow of the Lord Chamberlain, and we meekly decided to do another movie pack — dead movie stars don’t sue. Not in England at any rate.
Bird Playing Cards
Nicky Bird
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Some ten years ago the Royal Family had expanded by marriage and offspring to such an extent that the sixteen aces and court cards could all represent well-known — if not well-loved — royals (with jokers showing Camilla and Fergie’s Dad). What a good idea for a pack, we thought, a tradition of royal lampooning going back 200 years. We spoke to an old friend, the late Willie Rushton, who agreed to draw the players, and Willie Rushton’s Pack of Royals was created…
Our Grand Prix pack, featuring great Formula 1 drivers and their cars, would have done even better if the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, the licensor, had bothered to sell the pack they helped to produce (we failed to consult their shop manager before production and he took umbrage). Hollywood, however, with 36 wonderful studio portraits of classic stars from the Kobal Collection on two packs, has sold well because the pictures are crisp, the chiaroscuro monochrome working particularly well on such a small scale. And the appeal of film stars is eternal. But image copyright — intellectual property rights — means that we cannot sell them in the U.S. Movie Stars with their Classic Lines (54 photos) is a favourite with devotees of great stars and their memorable quips.
World Cup Greats, featuring 56 of the greatest footballers — chosen in order of excellence by Brian Glanville — has proved a good idea partly because the pictures are dramatic, and partly because fans love to debate whether Best was better than Puskas, and tut-tut about the omission of Greaves. More of this sort of thing is on the way. Our Art Pack features 56 wonderful paintings from galleries all over the world, although in this case they are not placed in a pecking order. It is just a colourful pack, designed to make the two of clubs, say, a little jollier. Art history in a tuckbox. But you would be surprised how tricky it was to include all the greatest painters with pictures that are a) non-religious (to avoid offence) and b) that work on a small playing card. Sometimes we publish a commemorative pack — D-Day (with the IWM) for the 60th anniversary for example, Nelson (with the National Maritime Museum) for the 200th anniversary of Trafalgar in 2005.
Since we began, others have copied the concept of themed cards (with mixed results), and particularly the idea of sporting action pictures to illustrate cards rather than mug shots. There are no guarantees of getting it right but it helps, we find, if your cards are poker sized (i.e. bigger), the images sharply defined, and your pictures are sourced from an institution that will both sell and promote the packs. And as these cards are unashamedly ‘gift items’, they should be presented properly, and not be overly serious (Great Cathedrals fell down on this score). Each image should differ visually — footballers are fine because their shirts are colourful and different. Great Lawn Bowls Players might pose a problem.
